


Waiting

by AnotherLostSoul



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bittersweet, Canon Compliant, M/M, Random & Short, Sarcastic L, oneshot based on a dream I had
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22338787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherLostSoul/pseuds/AnotherLostSoul
Summary: Light wakes up in the Shinigami Realm to someone waiting for him. In another life, he waits for that person to find him again.A strange, bittersweet oneshot based on a dream I had.
Relationships: L/Yagami Light
Comments: 6
Kudos: 109





	Waiting

There was supposed to be nothing after death. Wasn't that what Ryuk had said? No death Note user could go to Heaven or Hell, but Light had never believed in them anyway. 

He was dead, he was painfully aware of that fact, but such consciousness shouldn't even have been possible! 

Light looked around himself and took in the vast grey sand dunes and dusty landscape. It reminded him of the barren wasteland Ryuk had described. He'd called it the Shinigami Realm. 

_ 'Is that where I am?' _

Interest piqued, Light observed his surroundings more closely. Footprints led southwest but it was impossible to tell if they were fresh or not. Everything appeared so tired and worn the rocks, footprints and withered trees seemed timeless. It was a place of death and stagnation and Light felt a brief surge of panic. He didn't want to spend eternity here. 

"I know, it's not much to look at is it?"

Breath froze in his lungs and choked him. He  _ knew _ that voice! He forced his limbs to work and stumbled around to face the direction in which  _ his _ voice had come from. 

"L, you're here?!" He spluttered, forcing himself to believe his eyes as L Lawliet stepped out from behind a large boulder and smiled faintly, half impish and half mocking. Completely  _ him _ . It was a smile Light had tried hard to convince himself (for six years!) he did not miss. 

"Yes" L chuckled softly. " _ You _ put me here, remember?"

Light's head spun. "Where are we? And why are we even here in the first place"

L plopped down onto the dusty floor with his back resting against the boulder comfortably. He twirled one long, pale fingers into the dust. Light scoffed incredulously as L drew intricate mandalas and ignored his question. 

L looked up through shaggy bangs of black hair and smiled that smile again. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting an answer? Isn't it obvious where we are? Or why we are here together?"

"No, it isn't!" Light ground out. How was it the Detective was just as annoying dead as he had been alive? And yet, the prospect of spending eternity with him was oddly comforting. It felt right. After L's death, Light was plagued by a feeling of vast emptiness. It felt as though his life was suddenly meaningless and even his success as Kira brought him little joy. He'd grit his teeth and survived those six long, L-less years until that bastard Near had… yes, he could admit it now,  _ beaten _ him. 

"Tch.  _ Think  _ Light. You were always very good at it"

Light clenched his molars together in an effort to stop himself yelling. Why was L so calm and collected? Why wasn't he screaming at him for killing him. 

_ 'No. L wouldn't do that anyway. He was never one to waste too much energy on useless emotion' _

"Very well, I'll tell you. We are in the Shinigami Realm. I've been here waiting  _ impatiently _ and I must say it leaves a  _ lot _ to be desired. Your appearance here must mean that my successors won"

"Bet you were glad of that!" Light spat, temper bristling in response to that calm, measured fucking tone of his. 

"I was, yes. I was sorry to learn of Mello's death. And Matt's. Still, It was heartening that in the end they worked together. At least Matt and Mello are together in Mu. Probably with Watari"

"And why aren't  _ you _ there?" Light hesitated before sitting down on the dirt beside L. Wasn't like there was much else to do in the vast nothingness around him. 

"Because you are here" L gently smoothed his hand over the mandala and erased it from sight. "We were…  _ are _ soulmates, Light. I suppose that doesn't mean much to you. I know you thought by sleeping with me you were just manipulating me but it was more than that. When I died you felt emptiness inside you like something vital had been torn away? That was  _ me _ . That was the bond between our souls dying"

Light was speechless and could do nothing but stare at L. He took in those wide, Mirror-like eyes and that shock of soft, black hair. In his mind's eye he replayed all their kisses, the feeling of moving inside L's body and the thrill of the chase as they pushed each other in a way no one else could. "You knew?"

L smiled bitterly. "I did not. That isn't the sort of thing humans can know, no matter how intelligent or accomplished. I knew in life I felt a peculiar pull towards you and chalked it down to a rather ill-advised attraction. I discovered our link when I woke up here and spoke to the Shinigami King. I have had a long time to reconcile it"

Light blinked hard. Shinigami King? Ryuk was always muttering about 'The Old Man' and his rules. "Wait. So why are you here? Why did you have to wait for me to die…?"

L gave Light an exasperated look. "Isn't it obvious?" He drawled. "Honestly, Light, death has certainly dulled that brain of yours. It was  _ your _ destiny to become Shinigami upon your death. Death Notes given to humans and the said human's transformation to Shinigami upon their death is how Shinigami reproduce. Since I am your soulmate, your actions have essentially robbed me of my opportunity to spend eternity in Mu with my loved ones. Thanks for that" L sounded oddly bitter yet mellow at the same time. He smirked as Light's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in surprise. 

"I'll become a  _ God _ " Light rasped in excitement. 

"Not quite. Besides, I thought you were already a god? God of the New World, isn't that what you called yourself?"

Light's eyes narrowed into slits. "Just because I won-"

"The battle. Yes, you won that. I died and you smirked down on me as I did. The  _ war,  _ however, was a victory for Wammy's House and my successors. And then there's the matter of where we are going to spend eternity to sort out, because I've won the right to decide that for the  _ both _ of us."

Light lifted his arms and held them out. "Here?" He asked sardonically. Soulmates or not, L irritated the shit out of him. He didn't know if he could actually  _ tolerate  _ being bond to him with eternity. Still, at least he'd be a God of death and could carry on his noble deeds as Kira. 

"No" L cut in, shaking his head mockingly. " _ I  _ do not wish to remain here, nor do I wish to become a Shinigami. Since I was the first to die and the bond is stronger my end, it is now up to  _ me _ where we go, according to the King"

Light felt a heavy feeling in his stomach. He knew L wouldn't choose to stay in the Shinigami realm and he also knew he hardly had any right to try and convince him otherwise. 

"I played a game of chess with the Shinigami King and I won. Therefore the right to our fate is up to me and I've decided on a different path than godhood for you, Light. We are to return to Earth once again and be reborn. I will become the world's greatest detective and our paths will eventually cross. Our souls will find one another and hopefully this time not as detective and suspect. You will change the world as you once wished to do, but you will do it the  _ right _ way this time"

A chance to start over? Light wasn't sure what to think. Obviously he wanted to live again but to return to that rotting world without the ability to make things better? Or could he make things better. Before he found the Death Note he'd intended to enter the Police…

Suddenly L leaned forward and grabbed Light by his tattered shirt collar. "We don't have much time left, Light. I hope you remember me"

Light licked his dry lips, overcome with the urge to pull L close before they were cast into the unknown. He watched as L's body, and then his own, began to disintegrate into dust. In desperation, he pressed his lips to L's and tasted sweetness. It was the one thing he bitterly regretted not being able to do in L's final moments on earth. He would do it now. 

"L" Light's finger traced L's cheek. "I did love you. I felt the pull too but you  _ know _ why I killed you. L and Kira couldn't exist together!"

"I know. It doesn't matter now, that reality is over for us. Let us hope our next life will be kinder, hm? Don't be afraid, Light. I'll be waiting for you"

And then L was gone, face crumbling into dust. Light screamed and reached out for him just seconds before he too disintegrated. 

*********************

The next day, two very special babies were born in the human world. 

A dark haired child with pale skin and large, gray eyes was born in Winchester. His parents decided to call him Louis, but, in time, the child would call himself L for short. 

And Halfway across the world, a young Japanese woman screamed as her baby boy was pushed, red-faced and angry, into the world. She was astonished at the boy's beauty and named him Light for the unusually light colouring of his eyes and hair. 

The babies grew into children, prodigies naturally, and as time passed each child began to feel an odd _ache_ for something. Seasons changed by the ache did not. It simply grew with them. As they progressed into puberty and manhood the ache grew stronger still. Light Yagami was 18 years old when he felt an undeniable pull to go to London. It was ridiculous, really, but he couldn't deny the pull. He boarded a plane and followed his heart. 

Confused at the commotion all around him, he found a bench to sit down on and wondered just  _ why _ he had come here. The pull had left him and he felt strangely empty without it. He believed in fate and had believed fate had brought him here to wait for something.  _ Someone _ . 

"Hello, Light"

Light's breath caught in his throat as he saw the dark-haired young man he'd dreamt about throughout his childhood walk towards him with purpose. 

Suddenly everything made _sense_. 

"L" he whispered, a small smile curving his lip as that ache  _ finally _ vanished completely. "I've been waiting for you…"


End file.
